Data network bandwidth requirements are currently shifting from 1Gb to 10Gb. But 100Gb is not far away – optical networking becomes essentially mandatory to carry large amounts of data. Researchers are investigating not only materials and equipment, but also novel signal formats.

Future Lab: The Brain Computer Interface and mind reading technology Researchers are developing technologies that will eventually allow users to control devices like computers, televisions and cell phones with their thoughts. Scientists have created Brain Computer Interface, also known as “BCI,” technology that allows computer programs to interpret human intentions...

Future Lab: Genevieve Bell of IXR When Intel Labs established its Interactions and Experience Research Lab, known as IXR, this past summer, it was a sign that the making of technology has profoundly changed. It is one thing to invent a machine or a process, it...

Future Lab: Networking in Space In 2009 the Irish rock band U2 experienced the realities of space communication when they connected in a live 2-way video conference between Bono on the concert stage in front of stadium audiences and astronauts in the International Space Station....

Future Lab: Digital Art Artists have often been proponents and leading users of technology. In computing, gaming has presented a challenge to hardware and software developers as artists create images that push the boundaries of compute performance. In this edition of Future Lab on...

Future Lab: Robotics Research We have Isaac Asimov to thank for thinking about robots as a science when he coined the term “robotics” in the 1940s. Originally, the term came from the word “robota” from Czech (possessing a similar meaning in other Slavic tongues)...

Future Lab: Protecting Privacy, Making the Invisible Visible A seamless and ubiquitous computing experience on the Internet also requires the user to take on a certain amount of risk that personal information would get into the wrong hands. Computer scientists are developing tools that protect a user’s privacy....

Future Lab: The Future of TV Television is far more complex than just the infrastructure that brings a signal to a TV set. It is the business of funding watchable programs in order to sell them to advertisers or audiences. It is a complex arrangement of...

Future Lab: Better Photos Many digital tools are available to help photographers achieve better results. But those tools only augment the photographer’s ability to see. Computer vision researchers have been working on programs that allow computers to see. Subhabrata Bhattacharya, working with Intel Labs,...

Future Lab: Collaborating in the Virtual World of ScienceSim The 3D Internet is a rapidly converging set of technologies used for visualizing information on the web in game-like 3D environments. This convergence promises to allow future Internet users to interact with people and information in ways that are much...